Food with heart

"I'm married to a vegetarian, but when the urge for ribs takes hold, I sit down with my kids to a pile of the stickiest, most tender ribs going. Remember the extra napkins!"

SERVES 4

2 tbsp tea leaves (oolong tea is best)

750ml dry white wine

2kg American-cut pork ribs

2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

150g treacle

100g honey

60ml white wine vinegar

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Begin this recipe the day before. Combine tea and wine in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Simmer for 10 minutes, then strain into a large casserole dish with at least a 2-litre capacity. Add ribs, nutmeg, treacle and honey. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, preheat oven to 150°C. Add vinegar, garlic and Worcestershire sauce to ribs, then bake for 1 1/2 hours until meat is beginning to fall away from bones. Remove from oven and transfer marinade to a saucepan. Boil rapidly over a high heat until thickened to a sauce consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Increase oven temperature to 190°C. Arrange ribs on a baking tray. Baste ribs with sauce and bake for 3 minutes or until sticky. Repeat basting and baking 5 times until a thick glaze has formed. Serve immediately.

POTATO BREAD

"Anyone can grill a steak, but to transform flour, water, salt and yeast into a work of art takes careful hands and a loving touch."

MAKES 2

400g potatoes, washed

3 x 7g sachets dried yeast

400ml tepid water

800g baker's flour (see tip, below left), plus extra

1 tbsp salt

semolina, to dust

Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake potatoes for 1 hour or until very soft and well browned. Set aside to cool completely.

Combine yeast with 2 tbsp tepid water and 2 tbsp flour in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes or until light and foamy. Transfer to bowl of an electric mixer with potatoes and beat with paddle attachment to form a paste. Add salt and remaining water and mix well. Add remaining flour and mix until just combined. Knead dough well for 5 minutes or until smooth. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Cut dough into 2 pieces and shape into ovals. Place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Cover with plastic wrap, set aside to rise for 30 minutes, then dust with equal parts semolina and flour and use a pastry cutter to make an incision down length of each loaf. Bake bread for 35 minutes or until golden and crunchy.

MOLASSES TART

"I love a layered dessert, where the sweetness is balanced with earthy flavours and aromatic perfumes. This tart does all of that, and then some."

SERVES 8

400g plain flour

150g icing sugar

200g unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

180g dark brown sugar

250g molasses

1 tsp bicarb soda

Place 250g flour and 150g icing sugar in bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add 150g butter and pulse until coarse, then mix in 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk and pulse until a smooth dough forms. Flatten into a large disc and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate pastry for 1 hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 24cm loose-bottom tart tin. Roll out pastry to fit base of tin. Place pastry in tin and trim excess. Cover with foil and baking beads or uncooked rice and blind-bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove foil and weights and bake for another 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine remaining flour and butter with brown sugar in a bowl and rub until crumbly. In a second bowl, whisk molasses, remaining egg and bicarb soda. Stir in 190ml boiling water. Mix half the brown-sugar mixture into the molasses mixture and pour into pastry shell. Top with remaining brown-sugar mixture, then bake for 30 minutes or until well browned and firm to touch.

Photography: John Paul Urizar. Styling: Matt Page.Recipes from The Food Clock: A Year of Cooking Seasonally by Fast Ed Halmagyi (HarperCollins, $39.99).